Short Interest in Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Declines By 10.4%

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 399,500 shares, a decline of 10.4% from the December 15th total of 446,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 137,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Kaiser Aluminum

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 101.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after acquiring an additional 13,813 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 60,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,331,000 after purchasing an additional 12,584 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 294,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,357,000 after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 84,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,119,000 after buying an additional 5,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 376,745 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,326,000 after buying an additional 4,388 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kaiser Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of KALU stock opened at $73.68 on Friday. Kaiser Aluminum has a 12-month low of $59.52 and a 12-month high of $102.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.99.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.16). Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 6.92% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $748.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kaiser Aluminum will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.57%.

About Kaiser Aluminum

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.